KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 ― Would you believe me if I told you that what you see in these pictures are not really sushi? If your second guess was cake, then you'd be correct.Have you ever wondered how ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 ― Sometimes the most satisfying dishes are made using the most simple ingredients. The ingredients of this soup come from humble backgrounds, and are easily available to everyone ... Read More
MANAMA, April 16 — The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president should automatically be on world body FIFA's executive committee instead of having to go through a separate vote, Bahraini soccer head Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said today.
Sheikh Salman is standing for both positions at a May 2 vote in Kuala Lumpur but Hassan al Thawadi, leader of Qatar's winning 2022 World Cup bid, is seeking election only to FIFA's top committee.
"How can we have a president who cannot have our voice in FIFA?" the Bahraini, who felt he was favourite to win the AFC presidency, told Reuters in an interview in his Manama office.
"Those two positions should be in one. To have a candidate running for just one post and not another I regard as a compromise, a weak position just to accept what they can get," he added.
The executive committee position is a five-year term running to 2017 while the vote for AFC president will elect a new Asian soccer head for two years to replace disgraced Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Bin Hammam has been banned for life by FIFA for corruption and bribery and his place has been filled temporarily by China's Zhang Jilong, who has also sat on FIFA's executive committee.
Four candidates are vying for the presidency, three of them from the Gulf region and the other being Thailand's FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi. Sheikh Salman's local rivals are UAE soccer chief Yousuf Al Serkal and Saudi Arabia official Hafez Ibrahim Al Medlej.
The Bahraini positioned himself, as someone who was not in the Bin Hammam circle, as the outsider who could step in and clean up Asian soccer's corrupted image.
Tackling the scourge of match fixing in Asia would be a clear priority, with zero tolerance for offenders and enlisting the help of governments, as well as treating all national associations as equals no matter how big or small.
"I think people have sensed the wind of change," said the man who lost the AFC vote for the FIFA seat 23-21 to Bin Hammam in 2009. "I think I represent the new face of Asia.
"People who want to vote for the change, the choice is clear. If people want to leave matters as they are, they have the right to do so.
"I think for the last few years it's been like a roller-coaster up and down that the AFC has suffered," he added. "I think it's time to steer the ship to calmer waters. This is what I'd like to do."
CHANGES NEEDED
Asked whether he felt his rivals were 'tainted' by association with Bin Hammam, he replied: "I don't want to use any negative campaigning about any others...but I think the (national associations) around Asia can understand where each individual stands and who they represent.
"I can feel that people want to embrace that change...we want a clean AFC, we want to do the changes that are needed, the transparency."
Bahrain has made headlines of late for a bloody response to a 2011 uprising and continuing civil unrest with almost daily clashes between pro-democracy protesters and the authorities.
The crackdown included the arrest of several soccer players and allegations that they had been tortured.
Asked whether the unrest and allegations had impacted on his campaign, Sheikh Salman said sport and politics should be kept apart.
"My response is let's talk about football and leave the political side to the other people who deal with that," he said. "We hear reports a lot from all sides and I am here to talk about the elections.
"I don't want to talk about these matters because the moment you talk about it, it opens the door.
"Since I have been in charge of football here in Bahrain, we always leave religious and political matters and views outside to try to focus on the game."
He was keener to discuss an accusation by Al Serkal that the Olympic Council of Asia, run by Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, was meddling in the AFC election by endorsing him and trying to influence the vote.
"We should be more mature than that," he said of Al Serkal's words. "We know that there are people supporting others and this happens in an election. If he (Sheikh Ahmad) wants to support me, he is free to support me.
"We should talk about the main issues rather than the other candidates. I think it's just a weak position if the candidate is talking about the others rather than what he is willing to do and his programme."
Sheikh Salman denied suggestions he was a 'puppet' for the Kuwaiti Olympic chief.
"I'll be my own man and I've got two years to prove that. I can say of the others that they are puppets of other regimes or other countries? Would that be right? I don't think so," he retorted.
On other issues, the Bahraini said he was in favour of the hijab in women's soccer if it helped the game to grow in countries with cultural hurdles and religious taboos to overcome, such as neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
"We'd like to encourage women's football in this region. We've got the world champions in Japan and we'd like to encourage this in west Asia as well," he said.
"Bahrain has a women's team and they've done a terrific job. We'd like to encourage it at school level, at a club level. It's going to take time. There's always a cultural barrier that we feel in some countries." — Reuters
Novak Djokovic of Serbia arrives for a training session during the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco April 16, 2013. — Reuters picMONTE CARLO, April 16 — World number one Novak Djokovic, who has been struggling to shake off an ankle injury, will play in this week's Monte Carlo Masters, organisers said today.
Last year's runner-up picked up the injury when he led Serbia to a Davis Cup quarter-final win over the United States last week.
Djokovic practised today but did not put too much pressure on his right leg when serving.
He will face Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the second round tomorrow. — Reuters
Sriram Krishnan believes that the launch of Spotify can stamp out piracy in Malaysia. — Pictures by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Free. Legal. Music. These three words rarely occur together but now that Spotify, the on-demand streaming music service, has officially launched in Malaysia you will see a lot more of them.
So how does it work exactly?
"Everyone knows what a mixtape is right? Back in the day, we used to huddle around the radio, put a tape in, start, stop and record your favourite songs. So that concept remains right? You're still able to create a mixtape on Spotify," explained Sriram Krishnan, Spotify's head of new markets (APAC).
Users are able to create playlists and compile any songs they like according to their moods or occasions from Spotify's catalogue of more than 20 million songs with 20,000 songs being added daily.
But how does one start with such a huge collection to choose from? If you already know what you want to listen to, Spotify's search feature allows you to look for the song that you want by just typing in the artiste's name or the name of the song.
Then there are times when you don't know what you want to listen to. Here's where Spotify's discovery feature comes in handy. Using Facebook Connect, you can see your Facebook friends who have a Spotify profile.
You can choose to follow them, listen to their playlists or see what they're listening to. Spotify will also suggest music based on songs you have listened to. Alternatively, you can use the follow option where you can follow the music tastes of influencers, artistes and celebrities such as Barack Obama or Maroon 5. When you follow someone, you will be notified when they update a song on their playlist or if they release a new single on their playlist.
The other feature is radio where you are able to come up your own radio based on an artiste you like. For example, if you like a song, you can create a radio based on the song or if you like your friend's playlist, you can create a radio on it.
Spotify launched the Free and Premium versions in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong simultaneously, offering the current selection of international songs as well as local and regional music that is relevant to this market.
Users of the Free version get to enjoy the same amount of songs with no restrictions on the time consumption as the Premium version. The difference is that the sound quality is between 120kbps to 180kbps for the Free version while Premium users get to enjoy better sound quality at 320kbps.
Another key difference between the two versions is that the service is limited to desktop only for the Free version while Premium users are able to enjoy their music on the go across their mobile devices.
The free version of Spotify has three to four minutes of ads every hour while the Premium version is ad-free.
Music at the palm of Spotify Premium users: On their mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. Spotify Premium is available for download as an app for all mobile operating systems once the user subscribes to the service. You can then access your saved playlist and music from Spotify on your smartphone, tablet and laptop from wherever you are. Spotify users in Malaysia can subscribe to the Premium version for RM14.90 a month.
"At the end of the day, we want to make life simple for consumers. We want them to have a choice, and we want it to be as easy and simple as possible. Albert Einstein said, 'Everything should be as simple as possible if not simpler'.
"Basically we want to do that as a service. In Asia, mobile is very important — more so than laptops and desktops so we felt that in order to provide a simpler service, it's important to have the Free and Premium versions," said Sriram Krishnan.
Local rights owners want to be part of Spotify as well because it means global access for them.
The music service is not just for the users but for artistes and bands who want to have a global audience. Spotify's user base goes beyond Asia to US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, so it is a good platform for local artistes, lyricists, songwriters and composers to be on.
The founder of Spotify, Daniel Ek, is a technologist and musician who lives in Sweden. According to Sriram Krishnan, Sweden is home to Piratebay, an illegal torrent site. "He wanted to create a service that would have the world's music that would be completely legal so that we can get people away from piracy," said Sriram Krishnan.
By the end of 2013, Spotify would have given back US$1 billion (RM3 billion) to music rights owners worldwide even though Spotify has only been operating since 2008.
"At the end of the day, we're all consumers. I'm a Spotify fan first, employee second. For me, if a service is able to provide me free, legal music, that's great. In an easy way, with lots of choice, it's a no-brainer for me as a consumer," he said.
"If you ask me what our objectives are, we want to stamp out piracy because we have done it in every other market we've launched in and we're confident we can do it in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong."
Meat Loaf on farewell tour. — Reuters file picLONDON, April 16 — American rocker Meat Loaf pulled out of a concert in Britain hours before he was due on stage as health problems continue to dog the 65-year-old singer.
Meat Loaf, whose 1977 "Bat Out Of Hell" remains one of the biggest-selling albums, is travelling around Europe on his farewell "Last At Bat" tour that he claims will be his last after struggling with health problems in recent years.
On Sunday he cancelled the fifth of eight concerts lined up for Britain, issuing an apology on his Facebook page saying "several members of the band" were ill and the concert in Nottingham would be rescheduled on May 20.
A spokesman for the singer could not give more details of the illness or Meat Loaf's health but said he expected the singer would be back on stage in Manchester tomorrow.
Last month, ahead of his tour through Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, the portly Meat Loaf told Reuters that he did not want to travel anymore.
"I outweigh (Mick) Jagger by about 100 pounds (45 kg) and that counts for something. He hasn't seen the wear and tear," he said.
Meat Loaf, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday, cancelled a European Tour in 2007 after being diagnosed with a cyst on his vocal chords and sparked further fears for his health in 2011 when he collapsed on stage. He later blamed the blackouts on past concussion injuries and his health issues on asthma.
Last year he underwent a knee replacement operation and is due to have an operation on his other knee shortly. — Reuters
LONDON, April 16 — Makers of diet pills sold in grenade-shaped containers are declaring a "war on fat," and the popular pills just earned a top award at the FIBO fitness expo in Germany.
Grenade diet pills. — AFP picLaunched in 2010, UK-based Grenade now sells its product in 130 countries. The grenade shape is designed to appeal to men, and so far the product has been a hot seller in the UK and Europe. The diet pills, which contain green tea extracts as one of their active ingredients, earned FIBO's award for European diet and weight management product of the year.
The British media reported earlier this year, however, that the grenade shape caused a stir at Glasgow Airport, when a bottle of pills was thought to be real ammunition.
Still, the company says it will stand by its product design, noting that it is made from plastic, is twice the size of a real grenade, and looks no different from a child's toy. — AFP/Relaxnews
TALLINN, April 16 — Estonian start-up Jomi Interactive is prototyping a device that will help you drink the requisite 2.5 litres of water per day.
Jomi Band prototype. — AFP picAccording to TechCrunch, the company is testing two sensorised band-shaped devices, called Jomi Band, that attach to water bottles, with the hopes of narrowing them down to one to market. The first, a small ring which wraps around the top of a bottle, reminds users at pre-set intervals to take a sip of water. The second, which attaches to the bottom of the bottle, will remind users to drink up as well as measure how much water is being consumed. Data will then be sent via Bluetooth to a smartphone app, so users can view charts and graphs on their beverage consumption.
"We're in the middle of production development with Alphaform in Finland and our team will be working out of their office next week to finalize the design and choose the best materials to work with," Jomi spokesman Henri Viiralt told Relaxnews via email. He added that the app will feature open API so it can be used in unison with health trackers such as Nike+ Fuelband, Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP to provide another layer of useful information to the user.
TechCrunch reports that the device's software could also be used in another app that warns alcohol drinkers when they've reached their limit, or it could track soft drink intake for those charting their diabetes risk.
Jomi is partnering for testing the market in Europe with bottle maker KOR water and aims to get US companies interested as well.
This isn't the first device to attempt to measure liquid intake. Showcased at CES in 2011, Cambridge Consultants' i-dration bottle syncs with a smartphone to help maintain optimum levels of hydration during workouts. According to the developer, drinking too much water can have an equally negative effect on athletic performance as drinking too little, and this device is aimed at preventing that. External temperature and drinking quantity and frequency are monitored through the bottle's grip sensors, and when your body needs a drink, a blue light comes on. — AFP/Relaxnews
KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Miss Seetoh in the World, which was first published in November 2010, is "a very special book for two reasons", Singapore-based author Catherine Lim blogged."Firstly, it came at ... Read More
Victor Tan enjoys writing, philosophising, and watching the world spin. He believes that dreams aren't worth dreaming if they aren't grand enough to strike fear into people's hearts. He writes for CEKU at http://www.ceku.org.
APRIL 16 — Hobbes held that humans are preoccupied with the notion that self-interest must be held forward, that all other considerations must be trampled beneath the feet and labelled as semantics.
Hobbes' argument is a damning one, yet not altogether untrue in the world of politics. Some politicians accuse each other of politicking; we are served with news of buyouts and party-jumping.
Others hurl endless invectives, searching for scandals to create discord, and feed a sense of injustice. For evidence, please visit a table filled with uncles at your nearest coffee shop. Listen to the vulgarities that people can spew as they speak of our leaders.
On both sides of the political divide, you will find both angels as well as demons. In Utusan Malaysia, for instance, national leaders are held to do no wrong, and respectable people are slandered with unfounded allegations.
What of opposition publications? The reverse is true. Leaders are demonised, perceived injustices are played for shock value and emotions are heightened. For insight, please read the comments on online news portals.
I plead guilty for my role in this toxic cycle. I am a writer, and I ask you this: "Do not trust me."
I don't mean don't listen to me entirely, but please don't listen blindly. I could tell you at length about hundreds of different things that cannot be published in the newspapers and will never be published in the newspapers.
Yet, these things will never be said in public, and will only be designated as hearsay. I could talk to you about all the hundreds of little idiosyncrasies that characterise our politicians of today, the interesting things told to me in confidence.
But I do not, because I cannot. While there is often smoke in every fire, many things are often lost in interpretation.
The average Malaysian has very little access to the world of politicians, save for through news portals. We are the direct lifeline to people's information, the ones who decide on angles to the stories that the newsmakers decide to air.
This is called setting a news agenda, by which the shape and flow of the national conversation is set. As journalists, we have the ability to change it and shape it. Perhaps that's why the media is so powerful — because we control minds.
Indeed there's a divergence in perception and reality, but not necessarily for the reasons some parties would have you believe. However, let's not talk about which side is more right or wrong here. Let's limit our discussion to this perception.
We have a public that mistrusts the mainstream media, politicians that distrust the mainstream media, and an ongoing national debate about whether the mainstream media betrays the interests of Malaysian stakeholders, or that "alternative media" stifles pro-BN speech by removing comments.
I will not comment on the truth value of the latter allegations, but at heart, I realise that there is no such thing as unbiased journalism. Self inevitably bleeds into paper, and parochialism is unavoidably cemented into bricks made of ideas as time goes by.
I realise that many of you will never see the things that I see, will never realise that some of the politicians you hate are actually genuinely good people. They are just men and women with families and a sense of humour. Many of you will also never realise that those you love can be maniacally power-hungry, seeking no more than for the lion's share.
The lens that I attempt to create at my workplace, and I believe all journalists should, is the clearest one possible. A lens revealing the best truth that we can reveal, that conveys the most revealing side that we can possibly convey.
Yet, I beckon you — do not use the extent to which you agree or disagree with our words as a measure of truth. Do not force your emotion squarely down. Do not blindly trust us.
Treat us with the scepticism you would a stranger wearing a trench coat on the street corner. Never consider yourself informed until you can dissect our words, deconstruct them, and paint a picture for yourself.
Perhaps this may seem bleak news against the backdrop of a world that is meant to liberate and to protect, to govern and to heal, to strengthen and to uphold principles of justice. But my personal philosophy is that this is a bleak world, full of unknowable, confounding variables.
Know, however, that diamond mines are often deep and dark. I encourage you to take the red pill, and to look, see, understand, and feel.
Don't trust anyone on the basis of authority. Trust yourself, and trust your reason. Trust your internal sense of decency. Trust that you, too, will someday find a path.
Haji Subky Abdul Latif seorang penulis bebas dan tinggal di Kuala Lumpur. Seorang pendiam, dia gemar meneliti perangai manusia dan berita politik di Malaysia.
16 APRIL — Sama ada orang suka atau tidak suka, akui atau tidak akui kelahiran Pakatan Rakyat yang lebih awal dan lebih tua dari pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Najib Razak adalah pelengkap kepada kewujudan sistem dua parti buat Malaysia.
Wujudnya dengan bentuknya yang tersendiri, ia diakui sebagai zat yang mendua Barisan Nasional dalam erti lembaga itu yang mengancam kuasa dan pengaruh BN sekarang.
Kalau BN dan Najib tumbang dalam PRU13 ini, maka yang menumbangkannya ialah Pakatan Rakyat, bukan PKR, bukan PAS dan bukan DAP tetapi ialah Pakatan Rakyat. Jika ia berjaya menawan Putrajaya, bukan yang menawannya itu Anwar Ibrahim atau Abdul Hadi Awang atau Lim Kit Siang, tetapi ialah Pakatan Rakyat.
Tidak kira ia ada nama yang didaftarkan dengan RoS, atau ada lambing-bendera yang satu atau ia sebuah parti berdaftar menggabungkan tiga parti pembangkang terpenting di negara ini, tetapi semua tahu ia wujud sekali pun tidak dapat dilihat, sama dengan kewujudan malaikat yang tidak dapat dilihat oleh semua manusia kecuali nabi-nabi dan rasul.
Adalah benar PR tidak sujud sebagai sebuah parti gabungan seperti Barisan Nasional yang ada seorang pengerusi dan ada lambang iaitu dacing serta didaftarkan, tetapi apa kurangnya dari segi peranan dan pengaruhnya dari BN?
Betul tiada calon bertanding atas nama Pakatan Rakyat dalam pilihanraya, tetapi semua tahu calon yang bertanding atas nama PAS dengan lambang bulannya dan DAP dengan roketnya dan demikian juga PKR dengan apa jua panggilan simbolnya tetapi semua orang tahu bahawa mereka adalah calon Pakatan.
Jika ia menguasai majoriti Yang di-Pertuan Agong tidak memanggil ketua Pakatan Rakyat menangkat sumpah membentuk kerajaan, tetapi seorang yang dinamakan oleh gabungan tiga parti itu untuk membentuk kerajaan. Tetapi semua tahu dia adalah Perdana Menteri Pakatan Rakyat.
Sekali pun Yang di-Pertuan Agong tidak menyebut kalimah Pakatan Rakyat ketika memperkenan wakilnya menjadi Perdana Menteri, tetapi dalam titah pembukaan Parlimen penggal yang baru, baginda akan menitahkah juga nama parti gabungan yang didaftarkan itu.
Oleh itu apa cacat Pakatan Rakyat bagi memenuhi kewujudannya sebagai sebuah parti yang melengkapkan kewujudan sistem dua parti itu? Tiada apa kurangnya dan tiada ia melanggar peruntukan perlembagaan.
Walaupun BN ada kelebihannya, tetapi kekurangan Pakatan itu tidak menghalangnya berkuasa jika ia beroleh majoriti cukup.
Mungkin ia tidak sama dengan parti-parti negara yang ada sistem dua parti seperti di Amerika, Australia dan Jerman, tetapi BN sendiri tidak sama dengan Parti Demokrat di Amerika atau Parti Buruh di Britain. Parti-parti tersebut adalah parti tunggal, bukan parti gabungan seperti BN.
Tidak penting Pakatan mesti sama dengan BN. Orang kembar tidak mesti semuanya serupa. Masing-masing ada kelebihan dan kekurangannya. Manusia bukan semuanya hitam, ada juga yang putih.
Yang penting dalam sistem politik dua parti itu ada secara bergilir satu parti memerintah dan satu lagi menjadi pembangkang. Dunia politik itu dua objek yang saling bertentangan. Seperti ada Adam, ada iblis. Ada Nabi Ibrahim, ada Namrud. Ada Nabi Musa, ada Firaun. Ada Nabi Muhammad SAW ada pula Abu Lahab. Ada Konservatif, ada Parti Buruh. Ada Demokrat, ada Republikan. Ada PAS, ada Umno. Maka ada BN, ada pula PR.
Berapa hari Pakatan bertahan? Allah saja yang tahu. Tiap yang bernyawa pasti merasa mati. Setiap yang baharu tidak akan kekal. Jibrail yang wujud sejak wujudnya alam akan merasa matinya angin sangkakala yang kedua ditiup. Kalau Pakatan yang ada kekurangan akan mati, BN yang ada kekuatan pun akan mati juga.
Yang penting menjelang PRU13 ini kita sudah ada di tengah sistem dua parti, tidak lebih dan tidak kurang.
GEORGE TOWN, 16 April — Pengerusi MCA Negeri Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen menyifatkan penyerahan kerusi parlimen Gelang Patah di Johor yang menjadi kubu kuat parti itu kepada Umno merupakan pengorbanan yang perlu dilakukan demi memastikan BN kekal menang di kawasan itu pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13).
Beliau berkata pengunduran MCA itu juga merupakan strategi yang diatur barisan kepimpinan BN untuk berhadapan dengan Penasihat DAP Lim Kit Siang yang telah memilih bertanding merebut kerusi itu kali ini.
"MCA berundur bukan disebabkan masalah dalam komponen parti tetapi pengorbanan ini dilakukan demi memastikan kemenangan BN, PRU kali ini sangat penting dan kita mahu pastikan BN menang kerana keutamaan ialah BN," katanya kepada pemberita di sini hari ini.
Pada PRU12, calon BN Tan Ah Eng mengekalkan kerusi Parlimen Gelang Patah dengan majoriti undi 8,851. Pada pilihan raya umum kali ini, Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman dinamakan sebagai calon bertanding merebut kerusi Parlimen itu dan akan ditentang oleh penasihat DAP Lim Kit Siang.
Mengenai pemilihan calon MCA di Pulau Pinang, Dr Ng yang juga Naib Presiden MCA berkata daripada 10 calon yang dipilih untuk PRU13, MCA Pulau Pinang menampilkan empat muka baharu untuk bertanding di kerusi Parlimen, manakala enam lagi kekal bertanding di kerusi DUN.
"Pemimpin kanan negeri akan membantu calon-calon baharu ini berkempen untuk menang, dan berilah kepercayaan semula kepada kami untuk memerintah," katanya.
Dr Ng yang juga Menteri Pelancongan menjelaskan pengundurannya daripada bertanding pada PRU kali ini adalah sebahagian daripada prinsip parti itu.
"Ini merupakan satu transformasi dalam MCA, senior tidak bertanding tetapi pada masa yang sama tetap memastikan calon MCA menang," katanya yang telah melibatkan diri dalam politik selama 40 tahun serta tiga penggal menjadi anggota Parlimen Raub, Pahang. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, 16 April — Perlawanan sudah bermula. Rakyat Malaysia kini sudah mengetahui siapa yang sudah digugurkan dan siapa yang akan membawa harapan parti-parti politik yang mereka wakili dalam pilihan raya umum ke-13 (PRU13).
The Malaysian Insider mengenalpasti kejutan dan kekecewaan awal menerusi senarai calon-calon yang telah diumumkan.
KEJUTAN
● Datuk Seri Najib Razak - calon merajuk sudah mula nampak dan ancaman sabotaj adalah sesuatu yang nyata, oleh sebab itu presiden Umno ini mesti diberikan pujian kerana meletak kira-kira 50 peratus muka-muka baru di peringkat negeri dan 30 peratus calon baru di peringkat persekutuan.
● Datuk Seri Mohamed Hassan dan Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir - kedua-dua penyandang ini berhadapan cabaran daripada dalam parti dan bukan hanya daripada pembangkang, dengan pemimpin utama Negeri Sembilan dan Perak itu kemungkinan berhadapan disingkirkan sebagai menteri besar oleh pemimpin berpengaruh lain dalam parti. Namun, Najib jelas melihat ia suatu tindakan yang bodoh jika tiba-tiba membuat pertukaran di negeri yang mereka sandang, disamping tida k mengendahkan sebarang perselisihan dalaman yang berlaku.
● Pujian kepada PAS. Mereka telah menunaikan janji untuk membariskan calon bukan Islam. Adakah sesiapa akan boleh membayangkan pada suatu hari nanti parti Islam akan meletakkan seorang penganut Kristian atas tiket parti tersebut.
● Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat. Malahan PKR sendiri merasakan Rafizi Ramli akan berhadapan halangan besar sekiranya Ong diletak sebagai calon, memandangkan status calon boleh menang pemimpin MCA tersebut. Namun Najib menerima cadangan supaya meletak peguam Gary Lim untuk mempertahankan kerusi MCA tersebut. Tiada apa yang boleh diperkatakan selain hasrat Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek telah dipenuhi kerana parti itu memberi kerusi mereka kepada Umno. ● Datuk Seri Ali Rustam. Ketua Menteri Melaka popular tersebut akan bertanding di kerusi Parlimen, sekaligus memberi isyarat beliau akan merebut jawatan tertinggi dalam pemilihan parti, kemungkinan timbalan presiden.
● Datuk Seri Rais Yatim. Beliau dijangka mempertahankan kerusi kerana mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad tetapi faktor usia dan kritikan ketakupayaannya menangani kontroversi akhirnya berkesan ke atas menteri penerangan tersebut.
● Penduduk kelas pertengahan di Lucky Gardens mempertahankan hak mereka untuk menanam bendera kecil sebagai tanda sokongan calon kegemaran mereka dan menentang pihak berkuasa Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), dimana ia berada dibawah penyeliaan calon BN.
● Walaupun mengambil cuti selaku presiden Perkasa untuk berkempen, Datuk Ibrahim Ali terpilih oleh BN untuk bertanding di Pasir Mas. Pujian kepada BN kerana tidak memilih seorang tokoh yang boleh memecah-belahkan. Tetapi kemungkinan beliau akan bertanding sebagai calon bebas.
KEKECEWAAN
● Datuk Zulkilfi Nordin. Betul kah? BN dan pentadbiran Najib yang melaungkan slogan 1 Malaysian telah membuat keputusan memilih seorang ahli politik dan juga naib presiden Perkasa yang baru-baru ini melabel masyarakat India adalah "Keling" sebagai calon mereka di Shah Alam. Jadi, sahlah Perkasa dan Umno mempunyai kaitan antara satu sama lain.
● Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin. PAS akhirnya berjaya mendapatkan tokoh korporat tetapi bekas pemimpin MRCB datang dengan beban tersendiri. Lebih baik menerimanya secara berhati-hati sebagai seorang ahli PAS dan meletak calon profesional muda di Tasik Gelugor.
● Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. MB Selangor itu berpindah daripada kerusi DUN Ijok, yang telah menjadi sebuah kerusi liabiliti ke sebuah kerusi selamat di Pelabuhan Klang. Kadang-kadang anda ingin melihat lebih banyak ahli-ahli politik seperti Nurul Izzah Anwar yang telah memutuskan untuk keluar mempertahankan Lembah Pantai dan bukannya bergerak ke kawasan yang selamat.
● Calon MB Selangor. BN mendakwa mereka memiliki empat calon yang telah disenarai pendek untuk mengisi jawatan tertinggi di Selangor dan tidak akan mendedahkan identiti mereka kerana takut ia akan memberi tekanan kepada calon yang bertanding. Notis kepada seseorang di BN: jika kamu tidak menangani tekanan dan teliti, jangan terlibat dalam politik. Pengundi Selangor layak untuk mengetahui tentang calon MB mereka.
● Hanya enam daripada 222 calon Parlimen BN di bawah umur 35 tahun. Apa mesej itu kepada pengundi muda, muka-muka baru, pembaharuan dan transformasi. Sebanyak 40 peratus calon berusia bawah 40 tahun yang cuba masuk dan mahukan suara yang lebih besar.
● Perang logo antara PR dan PSM. Bukankah ini suatu perkara kebudak-budakan dan ancaman pergaduhan tiga penjuru adalah suatu yang berbeza dengan imej satu padu yang digambarkan terhadap mereka.
●Kebergantungan ke atas calon-calon yang berpengalaman yang sudah tiga penggal atau lebih dan masih bertanding dalam Pilihan Raya 2013 sama ada daripada BN ataupun PR. Jika sesetengah daripadanya tidak dapat naik selepas tiga penggal, lebih baik memberi laluan kepada calon yang lebih muda dan mempunyai kemampuan.
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 ― Would you believe me if I told you that what you see in these pictures are not really sushi? If your second guess was cake, then you'd be correct.Have you ever wondered how ... Read More 
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 ― Sometimes the most satisfying dishes are made using the most simple ingredients. The ingredients of this soup come from humble backgrounds, and are easily available to everyone ... Read More 
Users are able to create playlists and compile any songs they like according to their moods or occasions from Spotify's catalogue of more than 20 million songs with 20,000 songs being added daily. 
KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Miss Seetoh in the World, which was first published in November 2010, is "a very special book for two reasons", Singapore-based author Catherine Lim blogged."Firstly, it came at ... 
GEORGE TOWN, 16 April — Pengerusi MCA Negeri Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen menyifatkan penyerahan kerusi parlimen Gelang Patah di Johor yang menjadi kubu kuat parti itu kepada Umno merupakan pengorbanan yang perlu dilakukan demi memastikan BN kekal menang di kawasan itu pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13). 
KUALA LUMPUR, 16 April — Perlawanan sudah bermula. Rakyat Malaysia kini sudah mengetahui siapa yang sudah digugurkan dan siapa yang akan membawa harapan parti-parti politik yang mereka wakili dalam pilihan raya umum ke-13 (PRU13).